Simple Critical, Vulnerable and Overpower Damage Diablo 4 Season 2 Changes Explanation and Example

We know what’s happening with Critical Damage and Vulnerable Damage affixes in Season 2, as Blizzard explained on the stream and posted in the patch notes, but what does it mean for the numbers exactly?

First off, the basics of what was changed:

  • Base Critical Damage is still 50% and still multiplicative, but the Critical Damage affix is now only additive.
  • Base Vulnerable Damage is still 20% and still multiplicative, but the Vulnerable Damage affix is now only additive.
  • Overpower Damage now only goes up to 50% multiplicative based on your current life percentage. However, Overpower Damage affixes are now only additive.


The Example

Ragnorke posted an in-depth explanation of the numbers. They compared how it works now and how it will work on Tuesday when Season 2 hits. While they dive into the details and how the base multiplicative 50% from Crit Damage and 20% from Vulnerable works, SnaIKz went one further and illustrated it all on a simple example:

Comment
byu/ragnorke from discussion
indiablo4


One thing missing from the calculation above is the increased stat ranges for the Critical and Vulnerable Damage affix changes in the patch, but it does explain the major change from multiplicative to additive very well. Here are those changes:

Critical Damage:

  • Critical Strike Damage Affix, and Critical Strike Damage with Bone, Earth, Imbued, and Werewolf Skills Affixes has increased by 20%.
  • Critical Strike Damage Affix (Inherent on Swords) has increased by 100%.
  • Critical Strike Damage Paragon Glyphs has increased by 100%.

Vulnerable Damage:

  • Vulnerable Damage Affix has increased by 40%.
  • Vulnerable Damage Affix (Inherent on Crossbows) has increased by 87%.
  • Vulnerable Damage Paragon Glyphs has increased by 100%.

Overpower:

  • All Overpower Damage Affixes have increased by 50%.
  • Overpower Damage Paragon Glyphs have increased by 33%.
  • Overpower Damage Paragon Nodes have increased by 50%

So, the drop would be slightly smaller than the 1.2K > 900 in the example above, as any Crit and Vulnerable damage you would have from affixes would be increased compared to Season 1, but they would still only be additive.

You can find the extensive full explanation from ragnorke that also goes into the build diversity implications and more below.


Hopefully this helped you out in case you didn’t fully understand the implications of the announced changes.